Gravitar: Recharged (PS5 Review)

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Over the last few years, Atari has been remaking some of their classic games under the new “recharged” label. The latest entry in this series is Gravitar: Recharged. For the uninitiated, the original game is known for being one of Atari’s most difficult games, serving as a kind of cross between Lunar Lander and Asteroids. This newest edition gives the game a total makeover and adds a few new features to the game.

Published by: Atari

Developed by: Adamvision Studios

Reviewed on: Playstation 5

Release Date: June 2nd, 2022

What’s Old?

The essence of Gravitar: Recharged remains mostly the same as the original. The main game mode, arcade, serves to play just like the original. The player fly’s around between the different planets completing missions, trying not to run out of case or get blown to smithereens. It is still quite insanely difficult, and calls back to an era before the difficulty slider was a concept in the lexicon of the day. There are a few different mission types on the different planets. That being said none of them are all of that different from one and other. It is a fun and challenging concept, but feels pretty basic for the modern era.

What’s New?

For starters, the graphics have been completely redone from top to bottom. Where the original Gravitar had about as basic of an art style as one can get, Gravitar: Recharged‘s artwork really brings it to life. There are new powerups to change up the core gameplay, and the shield mechanic now stands alone, no longer attached to the force field/tractor beam. Additionally, there is a new missions mode. These 24 missions provide some variety, but really only serve as an extension of the main game.

Finally, one of the biggest new editions is multiplayer. You can now play couch co-op with a friend, using 2 ships. Unfortunately, the execution of this is clunky, and it makes an already hard game almost impossible to successfully complete. Besides these changes, a new soundtrack is also introduced, and the general control sensitivity has been adjusted.

Gravitar Recharged: A fresh coat of paint on a cult classic

Atari did a great job of reskinning Gravitar: Recharged and making it look like a modern game. That being said, there is a reason this game didn’t catch fire as one of Atari’s main stream games, and nothing that was done here changes that fundamental value. Fans of the original game will love this, but the “recharging” doesn’t add enough to the game to create a new, reinvigorated fanbase. If you are looking to get back into Gravitar, you will enjoy this, but other than that you won’t find much else here.

score: 7.0